Washington: Post 26/11, a section of the Congress leadership was seen playing religious politics after one of its leaders, A R Antulay, implied that Hindutva forces may have been involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, according to a confidential memo by the then US ambassador to India, David Mulford, released by WikiLeaks.
"The Congress Party, after first distancing itself from the comments (of Antulay, the then minority affairs minister), two days later issued a contradictory statement which implicitly endorsed the conspiracy. During this time, Antulay's completely unsubstantiated claims gained support in ... Indian-Muslim community," Mulford wrote in his secret cable to the State Department on December 23, 2008.
"Hoping to foster that support for upcoming national elections, the Congress Party cynically pulled back from its original dismissal and lent credence to the conspiracy," Mulford wrote.
Regardless of Home Minister P Chidambaram's dismissal of Antulay's comments, the Indian-Muslim community "will continue to believe they are unfairly targeted by law enforcement and that those who investigate the truth are silenced," he said in the cable....
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01:51 PM, Dec 11, 2010
Antulay said that the Government had cleared all his doubts. ... 
Former police officials say politicisation of such sensitive issues should stop. ... 
A R Antulay remains defiant in the face of intense criticism for his comments. ... 
Sources say senior ministers disapprove of Antulay's statement Karkare's death. ... 
Many say he has said aloud what many in the Muslim community are thinking. ... 
